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Chapter 302: I'll Go Myself
Orin Vale was only now realizing that there might have been some blind spots in his previous considerations.
He had instinctively felt that after the battle with Darkseid, the remaining routed forces of Apokolips had all withdrawn from Earth. This was, in fact, true—most of the visitors from Apokolips had indeed left.
But now, it seemed a small number might have remained behind.
Superman hadn't met Desaad yet, so after hearing the description, he just assumed the mastermind was another supervillain. But Orin Vale quickly made the connection: this might mean Desaad was still on Earth.
That New God was still plotting something. Perhaps he wanted to secretly build up his power on Earth, preparing for the next invasion from Apokolips—just as he had previously tried to dispatch troops to take Almerac as an outpost for an interstellar war.
This wasn't impossible. The existence of the Mother Box made it extremely convenient for these New Gods of Apokolips to travel through interstellar space individually. To them, two universe sectors might be closer than a next-door neighbor is to a normal person. Taking Almerac might have been an attempt to establish an outpost for the armies of Apokolips in the Galaxy, while he himself lurked on Earth.
And if this were true, Desaad's actions on Earth would inevitably be more cautious and discreet than before the Apokolips invasion. He would be more careful about hiding the boom tube signal and would likely avoid deploying any other troops from Apokolips. He would integrate more covertly into Earth's society, perhaps even arranging a human identity for himself, and the disturbances he caused would be much smaller.
Capturing him would also be more troublesome.
"No reactions similar to a boom tube signal have been detected within Earth's vicinity for the past week," Pal said.
"Expand the time frame and keep searching," Orin Vale, who had already returned to the laboratory, ordered. "Widen the search to the past month and broaden the matching signal frequencies as well."
"Yes, sir."
Pal paused for a moment before adding, "Also, the calculations regarding the distribution of the fear fragments throughout the Galaxy are complete. I've established a potential model for the outward radiation of the fragments and reconstructed a series of possible radiation centers. After comparing it with the star map and eliminating locations from those coordinates where hiding is impossible, the only remaining coordinates are..."
The star map unfolded before Orin Vale, clearly marking three locations.
"Only three. Doesn't look too difficult," Orin Vale mused. "Well, it seems we're off on another long trip. We have a big, golden-yellow bug to visit."
Parallax stared wide-eyed, gazing longingly at the boundless, pitch-black galaxy.
It felt like the Monkey King, trapped under the Five Finger Mountain, waiting eagerly for his master to come and remove the spell.
A week had passed since its fear fragments had been scattered.
At first, it was full of anticipation, waiting for those fragments to infect intelligent creatures and act as its agents, spreading fear and despair. Once it had feasted, reclaimed its authority, and once again become the king of fear, it would regroup and unleash its full power...
...and flee at light speed.
What? Go back and get revenge on that Giant of Light?
What kind of interstellar joke was that?
It, Parallax, was the incarnation of fear, not some brute like the Red Lanterns' Butcher or the Green Lanterns' Ion.
No one understood fear better than it did, and likewise, no one knew better when to follow its inner instinct.
The problem now, however, was: where had the fragments gone?
So many fragments, and after all this time, not a single drop of fear had been fed back to it?
Slowly, Parallax's anticipation turned to rage, which then turned to unease, gradually evolving into a kind of ominous premonition—
—Don't tell me that glowing monster intercepted them again?
Even worse, could that guy follow the fragments and find his way here?
Parallax quickly shook off the terrifying thought.
Impossible. It had been very careful to conceal itself. Besides, that Giant of Light seemed to be stationed on Earth, and this place was, after all, outside the Solar System. If he could find it even here, that would be some seriously bad luck.
If that really happened, then it, Parallax, should just stop being the incarnation of fear and become the incarnation of misfortune.
Interestingly, not long after this thought popped into its head, it suddenly smelled a long-lost scent.
That sweet, incredibly familiar smell of fear.
But it smelled... strange. And it didn't feel like its own essence was being replenished.
Greatly puzzled, Parallax prepared to trace the source of this scent of fear.
Let me see whose fear this is...
Oh, it's my own.
Never mind then.
Only then did Parallax realize, to its horror, that it had developed PTSD for a certain Giant of Light to this extent.
No, this place doesn't feel safe anymore.
Although it was still very weak, Parallax decided to drag its broken body and move again. It had to find a new place.
Just as it was dragging its weak, swirling, misty form into the air to flee, it made a sharp turn. The moment its head came around, a blinding flash of brilliance seared its 24K titanium alloy eyes.
Following that was a fist trailing lightning, emerging from the blinding light.
A heavy blow. The punch, carrying a dazzling flash of electricity, its impact exploding on Parallax's face. Parallax let out a miserable grunt, its massive, several-hundred-meter-long body sent flying backward, tumbling thunderously across the surface of the barren planet. Bare rock shattered beneath it.
That single punch had blasted away half of Parallax's face. Yellow-black mist and Yellow Lantern energy spontaneously began repairing the damage. It raised its head in terror and saw, to its utter disbelief, the nightmare it had been obsessing over for days. The Giant of Light, who had somehow mastered the power of the Blue Lanterns, had abruptly appeared before it and was now slowly lowering his fist.
Holy crap, he really came!
It was a classic case of 'speak of the devil'. Parallax's mood at that moment was like ten thousand Adaras galloping through its heart.
It couldn't win last time when it was in better shape, and now, Parallax's strength was less than a tenth of what it was. What was worse, its opponent felt even more ridiculously powerful than last time.
Fighting was impossible. As for escaping, it had tried that last time too, and it felt just as hopeless.
After racking its brains, it seemed there was only one path left.
"Alright, alright, you caught me," Parallax said, closing its eyes and slumping to the ground. "If you're going to do it, do it. Make it quick."
It had the air of "I'll just pretend I was bitten by a dog."
It would only hurt for a moment anyway. The worst-case scenario was rolling back into the Spectrum and reloading from the start.
Of course, the feeling of "death" in that instant was still very real for an Emotional Entity. So, while an Emotional Entity might seem to have an immortal body to others, it could still feel fear.
This time, however, Orin Vale didn't attack. Instead, he spoke via telepathy: "Not this time. Getting violent with knives and guns is so discordant. This time, I'm here to talk."
Parallax: "?"
It opened its eyes, as if wondering if it had heard him correctly.
Killing Parallax was pointless; it would only delay the next time it caused trouble. Besides, for the overall balance of the universe, fear was an important component and shouldn't be easily erased.
But that just meant it couldn't be killed, that's all.
Rather than kill Parallax and let it go respawn in some forgotten corner of the universe, only to pop out from who-knows-where at who-knows-what-time to stab you in the back, it was better to find a cage he could see and lock it up. And as a bonus, he could even conduct some research.
An Emotional Entity is a construct of Emotional Spectrum energy, somewhat similar in nature to an Ultraman. The Emotional Spectrum is one of the fundamental elements that constitute the DC World, so it holds great research value.
"You have to come with me," Orin Vale said.
Parallax's eyes grew even wider.
"You want me, the ultimate nightmare of all intelligent creatures, the incarnation of fear, to obediently become your prisoner?" It sounded utterly furious.
"Uh, yeah," Orin Vale nodded magnanimously. "Do you have a problem with that?"
He figured it wasn't the first time anyway. As the saying goes, strangers the first time, friends the second. Wasn't it a prisoner of the Green Lantern Corps before?
Parallax snorted, pushing its prone body up, and said gravely.
"Lead the way. I'll go myself."
(end of chapter)
Orin Vale was only now realizing that there might have been some blind spots in his previous considerations.
He had instinctively felt that after the battle with Darkseid, the remaining routed forces of Apokolips had all withdrawn from Earth. This was, in fact, true—most of the visitors from Apokolips had indeed left.
But now, it seemed a small number might have remained behind.
Superman hadn't met Desaad yet, so after hearing the description, he just assumed the mastermind was another supervillain. But Orin Vale quickly made the connection: this might mean Desaad was still on Earth.
That New God was still plotting something. Perhaps he wanted to secretly build up his power on Earth, preparing for the next invasion from Apokolips—just as he had previously tried to dispatch troops to take Almerac as an outpost for an interstellar war.
This wasn't impossible. The existence of the Mother Box made it extremely convenient for these New Gods of Apokolips to travel through interstellar space individually. To them, two universe sectors might be closer than a next-door neighbor is to a normal person. Taking Almerac might have been an attempt to establish an outpost for the armies of Apokolips in the Galaxy, while he himself lurked on Earth.
And if this were true, Desaad's actions on Earth would inevitably be more cautious and discreet than before the Apokolips invasion. He would be more careful about hiding the boom tube signal and would likely avoid deploying any other troops from Apokolips. He would integrate more covertly into Earth's society, perhaps even arranging a human identity for himself, and the disturbances he caused would be much smaller.
Capturing him would also be more troublesome.
"No reactions similar to a boom tube signal have been detected within Earth's vicinity for the past week," Pal said.
"Expand the time frame and keep searching," Orin Vale, who had already returned to the laboratory, ordered. "Widen the search to the past month and broaden the matching signal frequencies as well."
"Yes, sir."
Pal paused for a moment before adding, "Also, the calculations regarding the distribution of the fear fragments throughout the Galaxy are complete. I've established a potential model for the outward radiation of the fragments and reconstructed a series of possible radiation centers. After comparing it with the star map and eliminating locations from those coordinates where hiding is impossible, the only remaining coordinates are..."
The star map unfolded before Orin Vale, clearly marking three locations.
"Only three. Doesn't look too difficult," Orin Vale mused. "Well, it seems we're off on another long trip. We have a big, golden-yellow bug to visit."
Parallax stared wide-eyed, gazing longingly at the boundless, pitch-black galaxy.
It felt like the Monkey King, trapped under the Five Finger Mountain, waiting eagerly for his master to come and remove the spell.
A week had passed since its fear fragments had been scattered.
At first, it was full of anticipation, waiting for those fragments to infect intelligent creatures and act as its agents, spreading fear and despair. Once it had feasted, reclaimed its authority, and once again become the king of fear, it would regroup and unleash its full power...
...and flee at light speed.
What? Go back and get revenge on that Giant of Light?
What kind of interstellar joke was that?
It, Parallax, was the incarnation of fear, not some brute like the Red Lanterns' Butcher or the Green Lanterns' Ion.
No one understood fear better than it did, and likewise, no one knew better when to follow its inner instinct.
The problem now, however, was: where had the fragments gone?
So many fragments, and after all this time, not a single drop of fear had been fed back to it?
Slowly, Parallax's anticipation turned to rage, which then turned to unease, gradually evolving into a kind of ominous premonition—
—Don't tell me that glowing monster intercepted them again?
Even worse, could that guy follow the fragments and find his way here?
Parallax quickly shook off the terrifying thought.
Impossible. It had been very careful to conceal itself. Besides, that Giant of Light seemed to be stationed on Earth, and this place was, after all, outside the Solar System. If he could find it even here, that would be some seriously bad luck.
If that really happened, then it, Parallax, should just stop being the incarnation of fear and become the incarnation of misfortune.
Interestingly, not long after this thought popped into its head, it suddenly smelled a long-lost scent.
That sweet, incredibly familiar smell of fear.
But it smelled... strange. And it didn't feel like its own essence was being replenished.
Greatly puzzled, Parallax prepared to trace the source of this scent of fear.
Let me see whose fear this is...
Oh, it's my own.
Never mind then.
Only then did Parallax realize, to its horror, that it had developed PTSD for a certain Giant of Light to this extent.
No, this place doesn't feel safe anymore.
Although it was still very weak, Parallax decided to drag its broken body and move again. It had to find a new place.
Just as it was dragging its weak, swirling, misty form into the air to flee, it made a sharp turn. The moment its head came around, a blinding flash of brilliance seared its 24K titanium alloy eyes.
Following that was a fist trailing lightning, emerging from the blinding light.
A heavy blow. The punch, carrying a dazzling flash of electricity, its impact exploding on Parallax's face. Parallax let out a miserable grunt, its massive, several-hundred-meter-long body sent flying backward, tumbling thunderously across the surface of the barren planet. Bare rock shattered beneath it.
That single punch had blasted away half of Parallax's face. Yellow-black mist and Yellow Lantern energy spontaneously began repairing the damage. It raised its head in terror and saw, to its utter disbelief, the nightmare it had been obsessing over for days. The Giant of Light, who had somehow mastered the power of the Blue Lanterns, had abruptly appeared before it and was now slowly lowering his fist.
Holy crap, he really came!
It was a classic case of 'speak of the devil'. Parallax's mood at that moment was like ten thousand Adaras galloping through its heart.
It couldn't win last time when it was in better shape, and now, Parallax's strength was less than a tenth of what it was. What was worse, its opponent felt even more ridiculously powerful than last time.
Fighting was impossible. As for escaping, it had tried that last time too, and it felt just as hopeless.
After racking its brains, it seemed there was only one path left.
"Alright, alright, you caught me," Parallax said, closing its eyes and slumping to the ground. "If you're going to do it, do it. Make it quick."
It had the air of "I'll just pretend I was bitten by a dog."
It would only hurt for a moment anyway. The worst-case scenario was rolling back into the Spectrum and reloading from the start.
Of course, the feeling of "death" in that instant was still very real for an Emotional Entity. So, while an Emotional Entity might seem to have an immortal body to others, it could still feel fear.
This time, however, Orin Vale didn't attack. Instead, he spoke via telepathy: "Not this time. Getting violent with knives and guns is so discordant. This time, I'm here to talk."
Parallax: "?"
It opened its eyes, as if wondering if it had heard him correctly.
Killing Parallax was pointless; it would only delay the next time it caused trouble. Besides, for the overall balance of the universe, fear was an important component and shouldn't be easily erased.
But that just meant it couldn't be killed, that's all.
Rather than kill Parallax and let it go respawn in some forgotten corner of the universe, only to pop out from who-knows-where at who-knows-what-time to stab you in the back, it was better to find a cage he could see and lock it up. And as a bonus, he could even conduct some research.
An Emotional Entity is a construct of Emotional Spectrum energy, somewhat similar in nature to an Ultraman. The Emotional Spectrum is one of the fundamental elements that constitute the DC World, so it holds great research value.
"You have to come with me," Orin Vale said.
Parallax's eyes grew even wider.
"You want me, the ultimate nightmare of all intelligent creatures, the incarnation of fear, to obediently become your prisoner?" It sounded utterly furious.
"Uh, yeah," Orin Vale nodded magnanimously. "Do you have a problem with that?"
He figured it wasn't the first time anyway. As the saying goes, strangers the first time, friends the second. Wasn't it a prisoner of the Green Lantern Corps before?
Parallax snorted, pushing its prone body up, and said gravely.
"Lead the way. I'll go myself."
(end of chapter)
